And I went out for an event and was reflecting along the way.
Like, it's easy to see others and wonder how come they don't do certain things good for themselves. Or that they jump to conclusions and say that something isn't good for them without even thinking much about it.
And I thought about myself. How often do I decide something even before actually thinking it through, or trying it out?
Yesterday, I found a lobang. There was a company which was intending to run a focus group and was willing to pay $80 for a discussion. It's expected to last 2 hours, sometime between 6:30pm - 10:30pm. I just needed to contact XYZ and they will ask some questions to determine if I will be selected for the discussion.
When I heard about the lobang, I was totally excited. Hey, $80 for sitting around an chatting. Pretty good money. It wasn't long before I started having negative thoughts about it. The first thoughts that went through my mind was, it's so late, 6:30 to 10:30, is it even worth it? I have to fetch my wife, we have to have dinner, and we have to sleep early to go to work tomorrow. And I was thinking and concluding that it just wasn't worth the effort.
I quickly stopped myself with my other mind and told myself.
"HEY! You haven't even contacted the person yet. You haven't been selected yet, and you've concluded that you don't want to take part in it. You don't even know anything yet. You should at least talk to the person before deciding anything."
So I messaged the person, did a call had some discussion and... well, I think I wasn't selected. She didn't really reject me, but she didn't give me further information.
Then I asked her if I could refer my wife and she was ok with it.
Later in the evening, when I fetched my wife from work, she called XYZ, and after some questions... She got selected instead... What the hell!!! Right on the phone, she received information on the date and time of the discussion. The timing is going to be 8:30pm-10:30pm. And my wife was totally ok with the timing so... she's going to go for the focus group and earn the $80.
So lesson learnt... Don't jump to conclusions, you don't know what the result will be until you really try it. I started out reluctant to even call the company, in the end, I wasn't the one selected, but my wife was...
Today, something similar happened again...
I got a lobang for a toy sale.
And once again, I had to consciously remind myself. Remember what happened yesterday with the focus group?...
Ok ok, so I reluctantly changed and drove down to the area. It's not an easy place to reach so... Kinda troublesome. It's like one of those logistics/warehouse buildings and they had 2 units set up for this sale. The toys on sale for the grab bag were all in boxes in the center of the room, there were better toys lined around the walls of the room, those are for sale at cheaper prices but they aren't part of the "fill the bag" deal. So I was like, forget it, I'm not going to even look at the toys by the side. I'm here for the cheapo deal.
I grabbed one of their plastic bags and started rummaging through the pile of toys in the boxes. Hmm... nothing really of interest to me. "Damn" I thought to myself, "can't be I drive all the way here and go back empty handed right... Man!! I'm going to be induced spending again, just for the sake of it..."
So I continued to search around for at least some reasonable stuff that I could fill my bag with. After around 20-30 minutes of jostling with sweaty bodies... somehow there were many people who could go on a weekday... I managed to fill up my plastic bag.
Here is the loot.
The empty plastic bag given is shown below. My tiles are 50cm by 50cm. So you can estimate the size of the plastic bag.
Total loot...
4 plushies from Plants vs Zombies game
3 DC toys, Batman, Superman, Cyborg (quality isn't very good, details aren't clear)
3 boxes of Pixel Pops, I didn't even know what they were when I added it into my bag
1 Crystal Surprise charms (it's some blingy thing don't really know what it's for)
1 set of ear studs with words
11 tubes of insect marbles (I thought I had 12, I counted wrongly. Sigh.)
Ok ok, I know... why do I need 11 x3 marbles with insects in them... I have someone whom I know would love it so...
Anyway... was it a great deal? I'm not too sure. Was it induced spending? Yes definitely.
The items would have cost me more than $10 if I got them at retail prices. I was thinking if I should fill up another plastic bag, but I was having a hard time filling up the first bag already.
I didn't need any of the stuff I bought, if I didn't get that bunch of insect marbles, I think it would have been a failed trip.
Some guys there found the full set of DC characters in that set, Batman, Superman, Flash, Cyborg, Wonder Woman. They got the last Flash. I think if I found one more Flash, I might have started another plastic bag to put in Flash and Wonder Woman as well, and induced purchase another bag.
Can I make some money out of this... actually, yes, I could buy a whole load of stuff and resell them at a flea market. I think it shouldn't be much of a problem, but I'm not going to do that.
After parking fee of $1.07 and transport of around 25km (2 ways) estimated $2.50 in petrol.
Total spending is around $13.57
Conclusion... was it worth it? I can't conclude for sure... It was fun looking for deals cos it's crowded and everyone is hunting for something to add to their bag, so there's some sort of excitement, especially when they bring in some stuff from the backroom to restock.
If I didn't get the insect balls, then all the other stuff is pretty much unnecessary. So I suppose it was a fair enough ending. Not entirely bad or great, but also, can't say it's really really worth it.
I think the plastic bag deals are pretty much loss leaders. Essentially having a bunch of cheap deals to attract customers so that they would likely buy other stuff as well. Cos they have other more regularly priced toys around the place as well.
I guess it would be fun if you liked toys or had kids to buy toys for. Then it would be worth it. Or if you wanted to resell them. I think that would be possible too.
You may want to check it out if you're in the area.
As for me... now I'm just thinking what I'm going to do with the other stuff... or who I'm going to give them to.
Oh and... I'm trying to consciously reminding myself NOT to come to conclusions too early. Sometimes things work out better than expected, sometimes, it's a fair ending... and sometimes it's a not so good ending. But you never know... and if there's not much risk, then might as well try first before concluding if something is nice or not, or worth it or not.
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